Synced or not, Chris Brown sex appeal wins Brisbane's hearts

Briony Skinner

I first saw Chris Brown on stage in 2007 as a support act and was so in awe of his talent that Beyonce as the headliner was underwhelming.

The following year, he joined then-girlfriend Rihanna for the Oceania leg of her Good Girl Gone Bad tour and while her performance blew me away, I left disappointed with his act. Mostly because half of it was lip-synced (and who wants to pay to see that?).

Since then, a lot has changed for Brown. He’s made headlines around the world for all the wrong reasons and his image will never be the same.

Given Ticketek’s three for one ticket deal on the day of the concert, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the Brisbane leg of his F.A.M.E tour.

However, his talent is undeniable and he certainly put on a memorable show for the bigger-than-expected Brisbane crowd, despite feeling "under the weather’'.

And while vocally he showed some signs of wear, Brown delivered on the most spectacular aspect of his live performance and what many fans go to see – the dancing.

It almost made up for the apparent lip-syncing during some of the faster songs, as the choreography was executed with synchronised professionalism.

A hard-hitting military themed first section including I Can Transform Ya and Wall to Wall got the audience heated up before he slowed things down and appealed to the ladies in the audience with "Yo", and they lapped up every second of it.

He continued in this vein and transitioned into the "sexy’' part of his set with such lyrically subtle numbers as Wet the Bed, Take you Down and No BS.

The ladies in the audience apparently couldn’t get enough attention and went absolutely wild every time he even looked like taking his shirt off to flaunt his heavily tattooed upper body … and when he did, it was deafening.

After a slightly boring R n B heavy middle section he included some more well-known ballads with No Air, Crawl, and With You before rounding out the night with show highlights Yeah 3x, Forever and encore Beautiful People.

Brown’s set had a good mix of hits from his four albums and mostly held the audience’s interest, while the DJ and backup singers helped to keep the energy up during costume changes.

Supporting act Jessica Mauboy certainly set the standard for the headliner, almost flawlessly pulling off a pumping, upbeat set.

Mauboy looked as if she was having the time of her life, strutting her way around the stage in a daring, skin-tight black spandex ensemble with silver glittery booties.

She sang through a string of her hits including Been Waiting, Running Back and Saturday Night, and invited fellow Australian Idol alum, Stan Walker, to the stage to perform her current single What Happened to Us.

Her suggestive dancing and powerhouse vocals show she’s come a long way in the five years since Idol and is sure to have a solid career ahead of her.